Sunshine Law Complaint in Neosho

Heather Bowers and Rebecca Williams are two Neosho women who aren't happy with their city government. They've filed complaints with the attorney general's office concerning what they believe are violations of Missouri's Sunshine Law, by Neosho's city attorney and city council.

"Honesty, integrity, and ethics in a governmental body such as the city of Neosho, it's not a political issue. It's an ethical issue. What we have here in this city is an ethical problem," said Williams

The Sunshine Law states, "It is the public policy of this state that meetings, records, votes, actions, and deliberations of public governmental bodies be open to the public unless otherwise provided by law."

But Rebecca got a tip that Neosho's city council was violating those laws by conducting city business through text, Facebook messages, and emails instead of out in the open, so she and Heather filed for copies of recent city communication via the Sunshine Law. They say not only do the texts they got show city business being conducted, like employee pay issues, but the city attorney warned city officials the texts were a violation of law.

"That's why we're asking for the past year of records, to where we can see what went on and what he's directed them to do, because that's not acceptable," said Bowers.

KOAM/Fox 14 reached out to the city of Neosho but they said since the complaint has been handed over to the state, they were standing by the information posted on their website which is some of the requested texts and emails. The Missouri Attorney General's office says it's aware of the complaints and is investigating.

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